Joyful and Triumphant: A Birth Story

Jessica Shyba is the wife of a NYU Dental School student and full time stay at home mother to Jack, 5, Zoe, 3 and Beau, 6 weeks. Jessica shares her adventures around Manhattan with kids on her blog, Momma’s Gone City.

Today marks the 9th week since our
third baby was born, and while I’m struggling to believe it wasn’t just
yesterday that we were in the hospital together, each day has brought a sense
of newness all it’s own.

I’ve been thinking for the past few weeks about
how I want to share the story of his birth. While it wouldn’t be remarkable to
most people, it was one of the most profound moments of my life.

I spent the day before I went into active labor
running around from a meeting on 5th avenue to a hair appointment at Bergdorf
Goodman. I was out nearly the entire day, tying up loose ends and trying to
find a few moments of peace by myself, knowing that they would be the last for
a very long time. This adventure out included a trip to my OB so that he could
check my progress. At only 1 cm dilated, I was told nothing would be happening
for a few days at least. Given my history with prodromal labor (basically
non-productive labor) I ended up out until 8:00 pm that night just busying
myself to distract from what I thought were Braxton Hicks.

I didn’t sleep that night. The contractions got
progressively more painful but never closer than 8 minutes apart. The morning
continued on as usual-I still wasn’t expecting to actually be in full blown
labor until the evening, so we started the preschool drop-off’s and Justin
headed to school to take a final.

By 3:15 in the afternoon, the contractions
started hitting back to back. Justin was home, but we didn’t have anyone to
watch the kids. Not knowing anything but what my body was telling me, I
scrambled to find a sitter and when she arrived, we literally jumped into the
cab that she came in and fled to the hospital.

My water broke the moment I set foot into the emergency room,
and I was wheeled up to Labor & Delivery (not nearly fast enough).

This entire period of time-all 7 or 8 minutes of
it-were some of the most terrifying moments of my life. Not only have I never
experienced my water breaking on it’s own, but I have never given birth without
pain medication. I wasn’t able to say goodbye to my children or even prepare
them for us leaving. I didn’t want to deliver our son in a taxi, but that was a
very, very real scenario and I knew it.

I can’t really describe in words how Beau came
into this world. Delivering a child fully unmedicated was an experience that I
completely believed I wasn’t fully capable of. And, after a couple of years of
feeling guilty and robbed because of it, I finally came to peace with the fact
that I simply must have a low pain threshold. This child’s birth was so
completely different from the other two; I screamed and groaned and even yelled
an obscenity during the mad rush that took place getting me from the ER to
Labor and Delivery. It was chaotic and loud and unbelievably intense for the
full 8 minutes I was preparing to deliver.

Beau was born in a flash after two pushes, and
the feeling of peace and triumph and jubilance flooded though my veins and
bounced off of the walls like rainbows in that stale hospital room.

It was a completely ethereal (and yes, very painful) experience.

I’ve
been changed by the births of each of my children, and each one a little more
than the first. Seeing my babies holding their siblings and gazing into each
other’s eyes makes my heart beat stronger and swifter than I ever thought
possible.

5:40pm on Tuesday February 7

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3 comments

Comments

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Stephanie

11:10am on Thursday March 29

So happy for you! Our 3rd baby is due in 10 days and it encourages me to hear stories of fast labors like yours. :)

Cindy B

7:57am on Tuesday February 14

Thanks for sharing. What a beautiful story. Blessings to you and your family. Congrats on doing what you previously thought impossible.

Threebeans

10:00pm on Friday February 10

Congrats! Loved your description of your birth experience. I totally agree. So changed by the births of each of my three children. Giving birth (even with meds!) was the most amazing gift I've ever been given.